This invention relates in general to electronic distribution of information and, more specifically, to blocking of unsolicited electronic text communication or advertizement distributed in bulk.
Unsolicited advertisement permeates the Internet. They very technology that enabled the success of the Internet is used by unsolicited advertisers to annoy the legitimate users of the Internet. The entities that utilize unsolicited advertisement use automated software tools to distribute the advertisement with little or no cost to themselves. Costs of the unsolicited advertisement are borne by the viewers of the advertisement and the Internet infrastructure companies that distribute the advertisement.
Unsolicited advertisement is showing up in chat rooms, newsgroup forums, electronic mail, automated distribution lists, on-line classifieds, and other on-line forums. Some chat rooms are so inundated with unsolicited advertisement that use for legitimate purposes is inhibited. Many users receive ten to fifty unsolicited e-mail messages per day such that their legitimate e-mail is often obscured in the deluge. On-line personal classified ad forums are also experiencing posts from advertisers in violation of the usage guidelines for these forums.
Customer service representatives and moderators are sometimes used to determine the unsolicited advertisement and remove it. This solution requires tremendous human capital and is an extremely inefficient tool-to combat the automated tools of the unsolicited advertisers. Clearly, improved methods for blocking unsolicited advertisement is desirable.